# Brand names that changed in everyday usage **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2024, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123 "2024-02-26T22:02:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/103 "2024-03-02T16:35:24Z")
> [@Hakushon](#): > > Duck Tape was not officially registered as a brand name until decades after the fact of everyday usag I assume (rightly?) that this thing was born as **duct** -tape, right? I read duck-tape a lot - are those used in parallel - and potentially different things (e.g. 3M-duct-tape) ??? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/104 "2024-03-02T16:42:48Z")
It was born as “duck tape” . Originally , it was made using cotton duck fabric. Then it was called “duct tape” because it was used on ducts and that fabric was no longer used and then the Duck Tape brand came later. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/105 "2024-03-02T16:56:11Z")
“Speed tape” is not an official brand name. Or is it? Note, that name is not descriptive of the tape itself; it seems like an imaginative name. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/106 "2024-03-02T17:00:24Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > It was born as “duck tape” . Originally , it was made using cotton duck fabric. Then it was called “duct tape” because it was used on ducts and that fabric was no longer used and then the Duck Tape brand came later. so: - cotton duck to - duct to - Duck thx, this Q. had we wondering my whole life … I see that I can die in peace now … ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/107 "2024-03-02T17:07:15Z")
The Speed Tape I know of is used in aviation. It’s a thick-ish Alclad aluminum-ish tape with a strong pressure sensitive backing to be used in temporary situations. ( all legally deferred of course ) In some circles, though none that I ran in, it was referred to “500 mph tape” since it will stay attached even in a fast slipstream. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/108 "2024-03-02T17:20:08Z")
3M 425 tape is the one I’ve most commonly seen in engineering designs and repair manuals for aircraft. Useful stuff found all over an airplane, not only on the outside as we see in images from nervous passengers. One application I often see is to apply it onto nomex composite interior panels, and then adhere velcro -sorry, “reclosable fastener hook and loop” - over it. The 425 serves as a metalized surface to slow and prevent local propagation of fire since a lot of the “reclosable fasteners”, especially older ones, don’t pass burn testing on their own. After many years in the industry, I’m still amused at how much of the interior of a plane is held together by velcro. > **[3M™ Aluminum Foil Tape 425](https://www.3mcanada.ca/3M/en_CA/p/d/b40067910/)** > > 3M™ Aluminum Foil Tape 425 is the go-to foil tape for numerous applications across a broad range of industries. Comprised of a dead soft, aluminum foil backing and coated with a highly engineered pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive, it is ideal for... ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/109 "2024-03-02T18:38:12Z")
Yes, that’s right. Although it’s worth noting that the original duck tape had no adhesive on it. You had to apply that to the plain cloth strips. That sense of the term was already outdated by the time (1940s) that the self-adhesive “duck tape” (no longer cotton duck) was developed for sealing ammo boxes. ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/110 "2024-03-02T18:56:10Z")
It’s also interesting that so-called “duct tape” does not work on hot air ducts (the adhesive melts and the tape falls off, as my brother-in-law found out when he used it for that purpose). The metal foil tape, such as that @mnemosyne mentioned, is better suited for that task. Nonetheless, the term “duct tape” stuck (no pun intended). ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/111 "2024-03-02T23:11:45Z")
There was an Enjay to go along with Enco and Esso. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/112 "2024-03-02T23:27:53Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Interesting. The one an hour north of Chicago has been called Great America as long as I remember. Because it originally _was_ simply “Great America” (or, more fully, “Marriott’s Great America”), when it opened in 1976. Marriott operated another Great America in Santa Clara, California, at the same time. By 1984, Marriott decided to get out of the theme park business; they sold the Chicago-area Great America to Bally Entertainment, which rebranded it as a Six Flags park. (They sold the California park to the city of Santa Clara at about the same time, and it’s changed hand repeatedly since then.) ---
**Author:** ![DoubleG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DoubleG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoubleG)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/113 "2024-03-03T14:22:27Z")
Many people call Tim Horton’s, the Canadian based coffee and donut shop, Timmy’s or Timmy Ho’s. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/114 "2024-03-03T22:15:45Z")
Speaking of WcDonalds… in the past week or so I have been getting emails promoting WcDonalds _from McDonald’s Canada itself_. I had not heard of this before, though I briefly thought it might have something to do with International Women’s Day. So I did a bit of digging. Apparently it goes back to an anime in 1981! I know the old Heavy Metal movie of around the same vintage had a McDonalds on the space station that the stoners crash/land their ship at. From Fictional Company Wiki: > **[WcDonald's](https://fictionalcompanies.fandom.com/wiki/WcDonald%27s)** > > WcDonald's (ワクドナルド, Wakudonarudo; also spelled as WcDonald, WacDonald's and Wacdnald, among others) is a popular fast food restaurant chain with a surprisingly large number of locations, even in the most unexpected of places. It originates from the... ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/115 "2024-03-03T23:46:49Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Were _any_ BW3’s, other than the original one (next to Larry’s), non-shitty? I’ve had some good times at various locations over the years and used to consider myself solidly ‘a fan.’ Two major changes were outsized factors in turning me off: they ditched the NTN/Buzztime trivia and they ditched the little fried potato coins (called Buffalo chips at the time). I can forgive ever rising prices and dreadful service, dirty bar and loitering teens as long as I’m mildly entertained and fed familiar fare. But they goofed with the formula until it broke and it’s no longer a place I drop in on like I once did. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/116 "2024-03-03T23:49:42Z")
Of the two big national wing chains, Wingstop seems still to be primarily a restaurant while Buffalo Wild Wings has become a sports bar that serves wings. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/117 "2024-03-04T23:26:13Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Then it was called “duct tape” because it was used on ducts Actually, I don’t think duct tape is used on ducts. Ducts tend to be in attics and hot places where duck tape melts. It’s a back etymology where people not knowing the origin start misnaming it based on a faulty assumption. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/118 "2024-03-05T01:26:42Z")
Tape for ducts is often just a PVC tape that has some stretch to allow it to conform to odd shapes. For cheap flexible ducts this is probably the better choice. However one also sees aluminium foil cloth backed tape used for ductwork. That would count as Duck tape. So this is a real case of _it depends_. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/119 "2024-03-05T10:20:58Z")
Not quite a brand, but it did change. There’s a street in Manchester that was the first to be built with indoor plumbing, so the council named it ‘Sanitary Street’. Over the decades the word sanitary took on a more icky meaning, so the residents dropped the S and the RY and started calling it ‘Anita Street’. Eventually it was formally renamed. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/120 "2024-03-07T17:55:33Z")
A “reducing plan candy” called “Ayds” was introduced in the 1940’s. In 1986, an executive of the company was quoted as saying “The product has been around for 45 years. Let the disease change its name.” By 1988 - after some attempts at a name change - the product was gone. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/121 "2024-03-07T18:23:39Z")
I was going to suggest BankAmericard changing to Visa in 1976 but I just now saw that Bank of America has recently revived the BankAmericard trademark for a secured credit card. Does this count? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123/122 "2024-03-07T18:53:05Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > A “reducing plan candy” called “Ayds” was introduced in the 1940’s. In 1986, an executive of the company was quoted as saying “The product has been around for 45 years. Let the disease change its name.” > > By 1988 - after some attempts at a name change - the product was gone. The tag line “AYDS will make you lose weight fast” didn’t really have a nice ring to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-changed-in-everyday-usage/998123.md?page=7)